Sibylle Kaczorek, Sydney

Across NSW, Queensland and South Australia, 150 technicians employed by National Cash Registers (NCR) stopped work from 6.30am on March 13 for a week of industrial action in support of a new enterprise agreement.

The Australian Services Union (ASU), of which the striking workers are members, warned that computer breakdowns would not be responded to at Sydney Airport ticketing, ATMs operated by the Commonwealth Bank, Westpac, ANZ and credit unions, KFC and Aldi supermarkets. NCR maintains 90% of the ATMs in Australia.

The workers are seeking a 3% pay increase. NCR has offered them a 2% rise and individual employment contracts.

Late in 2005, workers at NCR started negotiations for their first enterprise agreement, but since then NCR has put off further negotiations. According ASU NSW secretary Sally McManus, NCR is stalling on negotiating with the union so it can use the Howard government’s Work Choices law, due to come into effect at the end of this month, “to cut away at wages and conditions”.

An ASU-initiated petition in favour of a collective agreement was supported by 75% of all NCR workers around Australia. The petition demanded that NCR enter into negotiations for a collective agreement and stated that the workers wanted the ASU to bargain on their behalf.

In the first week of March, the ASU announced that talks between NCR and the union had broken down. McManus explained that “NCR has refused requests for an increase in allowances since September 2003”.

She added that NCR was only offering workers the chance to recover a previous wage cut of 5% through a performance-based system, which places unfair pressure on workers and their families. “Workers need some assurance they cannot just recover wages they lost in previous cut-backs by NCR, but also the chance to have annual reviews of their salaries just like any other worker”, McManus said.

From Green Left Weekly, March 22, 2006.
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